The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1887-04-14

Cordially Greeted by Vast Congregation
The Eminent Divine Delivers Sermon
from the Second Chapter of Revelations:
"a Live Church."
BROOKLYN, April 3.-The Rev. T De
Witt Talmage, ID. d., has returned from
the West, after an absence of nearly three
weeks, in which he preached and lectured
in fifteen cities to immense throngs.
vast congregation was present at the
Tabernacle this morning and joined with
fine effect in singing the hymn which be-
gins:
Jesus shall reign where er the sun
Does his successive journeys run.
DIR. Talmage's subject was "a Live
Church, and his text Revelations ii. s, 3:
"Unto the angel of the church in Smyrna
write: These things saith the first and the
last, which was dead and is alive. l know
thy works, and tribulation, and poverty,
but thou art rich
Smyrna was q great city Of the ancients,
bounded on three sides by mountains. 1t
was the central emporium of the Levandne
trade. In that prosperous and brilliant
city there was a hIsiion Church estao-
ished. Alt.ri5 bad existed for "a while it
was rocked down s. an earthquake. 1t
was rebuilt. La.uil was consumed by @
confagratiou tr wrto over the entire city.
That church ver through fire, and trouble,
and disaster, uu. ton to great spiritual
prosperity. ina al was that church had
the grace og Cod. .u ever active principle.
Had it been otH're se, all the grandeur Of
architecture and D. The pOmp OF surround
ings would only uuva been the ornament of
denth--the gaouas of coffin, the plumes
of a hearse.
1t may he profitable to consider what are
the elements of Il live church.
L remark, in the first place, that one char
acteristic Of such a church is punctuality in
meeting its engagements. All ecclesias-
tical institutions have financial relations,
and they ought to meet their obligations
just as certainly as men meet their obliga-
tions at the bank. When q church of God
is not as faithful in its promises as the
Bank of England it ceases to be a church
of God. II OUGHT TO be understood that
prayers cannot paint church, and prayers
cannot pay the nter's coal bill, and
prayers cannot meet the insurance. and
that, while prayers can do thousand
things, there are a thousand things that
prayers cannot do. Prayer for any par
ticular church will never reach Heaven
high unless it goes down pocket deep. In
my church at the west there was man of
comfortable means, who used to pray for
his pastor in such elongated stye that he
became a nuisance TO the prayer meeting;
asking God III a PRAYER that was almost
without ceasing, that the pastor might be
blessed in his basket and in his store,
while the fact was he never paid anything.
If we pray for the advancement of the
church and do not out of our means con-
tribute to its advancement, our prayer is
Only- TnOplya1N | AZ tha nbI1rrb Of God
then meet its obligations on the outside,
and let the members of the congregation
meet the obligations on the inside, and the
church will he financially prosperous.
Let me say, also, that there must be
punctuality in the attendance on the house
of the Lord. If the service begins at 1920
in the morning, the regular congregation of
O live church will not come at l0:45. If the
service is TO begin at 1880 in the evening,
the regular congregation of live church
will not come at 1lj. In some churches l
have noticed the people are always tardy.
There are some people who are always late.
They were born too late, and the prObabil-
ity is they will die too late. The rustling
of dresses up the aisle, and the slamming
of doors, and the traading of heavy feet, is
poor inspiration fora minister. Ii requires
great abstraction in u pastors mind to pro-
ceed with the preliminary exercises Of the
church when e-half Of the audience
seated are looking around to see the other
half come in. ~urh difference of attend
ance upon the house of God may be a
difference OF time pieces, but the live
church cf which am speaking ought to go
by railroad umc. and that is pretty well
understood in all our communities. There
is one hymn that ought to be sung in great
sy,1.
ing: "Early, my God. without delay, /
haste to seek thy place"
Another Characteristic of live church is
the fact that all the people participate in
the exercise. stranger can tell by the
way the first tune starts whether there is
any life there. a church that does not
sing is a dead church. 1t is awful to find
q cold dri2zle of music coming down from
the organ lot VIII lie nll the people beneath
sit in silence. When tune wanders
around. lone AMI unbefriended. and is
tina ly lost amid the arches because the
people do not JON In it. there is not much
melody unto the Lord. In Heaven they
iii sing, ihonlh some there cannot sing
haif as well us o hers. The Methodist
Church has sung all around the world and
gone from conquest 10 conquest, among
other things. because it is singing church;
and any Christian Church organization
that with enthusiasm performs this part of
its duty viii go on from triumph to
triumph. A Church of God that can sing
can do anything that ought TO be done.
We go forth into this holy war with the
Bible in one hand and a hymn book in the
other. OH We who used to sing the praises
of the Lord and have got out of the habit,
take your harps down from the willows. /
am glad to know that, as a church, we are
making advancement in this respect
When l came to be your pastor we had an
excellent choir in the little chanel, and
they sang very sweetly to us Sabbath bv